The pack walked into the warehouse and felt the threat immediately. The eerie silence in the massive hall was louder than the music they had expected to hear and there wasn’t a body, a bar, or a sin in sight. There were no drunk, dancing humans, intent on losing themselves in liquor, drugs and sexual exploitations that they would regret in the morning. Instead, a pallor of death clung to the atmosphere and the odor of decay drifted passed the pack’s nostrils in a manner that was disturbing to even an immortal.
Dominic’s first internal reaction was surprise that he hadn’t sensed the peril from outside and his second was a rush of panic that he refused to show his pack. He knew if their hidden enemies had the power to camouflage their essence, they were up against a more powerful coven than any they had ever faced together, as only old, aged vampires had the ability to disguise their presence.
The door they had entered slammed behind them and all five turned backwards as one, amidst the darkness. Seeing no one, they instinctively aligned themselves into a position of battle with Dominic taking the lead, Leo bringing up the rear, and the others meticulously placed in the middle. None of them spoke because their rules established they dare not speak aloud in unknown territory or under the possibility of threat. Fortunately, their leader had the power of mind-speak and it didn’t take them long to adjust their frequencies so that each one of them could be party to the silent conversation.
“Don’t move, don’t speak; just prepare yourselves.”
They obeyed his commands and remained immobile, quiet, and alert. Though Leo didn’t make a peep, the pack could feel his rage and for once, they were grateful for it. His ire was transmitted through Dominic’s telepathic powers and it infected each of them with its energy. The power of his fury prepared them to fight, like a steroid injected into a murderous mental patient, and they accepted it gratefully. A noise sounded from a loft above them and when they drew their attention to it, they realized the opposing pack had decided to reveal themselves slowly and dramatically rather than as an ambush.
“Trust nothing.”
Leering at them from different locations, the quiet enemies came out slowly from their hiding places but did not advance on them. Dominic and his pack scanned the room with all of their senses and absorbed every detail they could with their combined abilities. Eyeing their surroundings with quick, darting glances, they counted their enemies and planned internally but with as little communication as possible. They had no way of knowing who else might be picking up on Dominic’s mind-speak and the last thing they wanted to do was alert any of them to their intentions.
“Fifteen,” Dominic said to their waiting minds. Outnumbered three to one, they made the silent and collective decision to begin discerning which items in the warehouse they might be able to use as weapons. The opposing pack leered at them from their different positions around the warehouse but still, none of them spoke. A male and female pair smiled down at them from their perch on the top stair of the loft. Placing a long, sturdy finger to one side of his neck, the male grinned as he slid it gradually across his throat until it reached the other side. The gesture seemed to appeal to the female’s amusement and she threw her head back with delight before mimicking his movements by drawing a feigned incision across her own slender throat.
The enemies’ attentions seemed to be focused mostly on Christoph but he calmly returned their leers and threw in a playful